


The One Where Zuko Adopts a Badgerfrog

by 530_and_some_fandoms



Series: The Adventures of Flabby the Badgerfrog [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don't ask me how, Episode: s03e12 The Western Air Temple, Flabby likes turtleducks too, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, One Shot, The Gaang - Freeform, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko accidentally adopts a frog, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, it's that one badgerfrog, just kinda accepts it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:46:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28004106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/530_and_some_fandoms/pseuds/530_and_some_fandoms
Summary: The creature let out a deep ribbit as Zuko lowered his hands. Scolding himself, Zuko picked up the rest of his stuff and slung it over his shoulder. He started to walk back to the temple.The frog ribbited again. And then again.Zuko turned around, glaring at the squat creature.“What do you want?” He said.The badgerfrog only let out a mournful sounding ribbit in reply.Zuko sighed.“I’m going to regret this,”
Relationships: The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Zuko & Flabby the Badgerfrog
Series: The Adventures of Flabby the Badgerfrog [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073243
Comments: 19
Kudos: 304
Collections: A:tla





	The One Where Zuko Adopts a Badgerfrog

**Author's Note:**

> The Alternate Title for this was "The Frog Fic", as it was so lovingly referred to in my house. 
> 
> The Alternate Alternate Title was "Everything is the same, except Zuko carries around that one frog" which is still the name of the Google Doc. 
> 
> Enjoy!

To say the very least, the last few days had been… tedious for Zuko. 

Between confronting his father, getting out of the Fire Nation, being on the receiving end of an angry waterbender, and getting blown off a cliff, he was sore all over and wished that he could teleport all of his stuff down to the temple. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Instead, Zuko walked to his makeshift campsite to collect his things. 

His Uncle probably would have said something about how calming a walk would be if he were here. And maybe discuss tea or pai sho or some other thing he felt like talking about. The thought of his uncle hurt more than he expected. Not for the first time, Zuko wished he had broken the old general out of prison while he was still in Capitol City. At the very least, he could have checked to see if he was okay. And told him he was sorry.

Zuko was frowning when he reached his campsite. He hadn’t brought much with him in the first place, so packing up would only take a couple of minutes. As he gathered the last of his things, Zuko saw something move out of the corner of his eye. 

He whipped around, not using fire this time but keeping himself at the ready in case he needed to. 

It was the badgerfrog he had been ranting to before. 

The creature let out a deep _ribbit_ as Zuko lowered his hands. Scolding himself ( _It was only a badgerfrog. Idiot_ ), Zuko picked up the rest of his stuff and slung it over his shoulder. He started to walk back to the temple. 

The frog ribbited again. And then again. 

Zuko turned around, glaring at the squat creature. 

“What do you want?” He said. _Great. Now I’m talking to frogs._

The badgerfrog only let out a mournful sounding ribbit in reply. 

Zuko sighed. 

“I’m going to regret this,” he grumbled to no one in particular. He walked back to the frog and opened his arms to pick it up when it jumped into his arms. With an oof, Zuko fell back on the ground, not expecting the sudden weight or the sharp claws on its hind feet. 

“Already regretting it,” the badgerfrog was heavy and _slimy_ in his arms. The frog let out a content croak. 

“I should just leave you here,” Zuko muttered. The frog didn’t do anything in reply. 

With a small groan, Zuko picked himself up off the ground, badgerfrog in his arms, and walked back to the Temple. He had already been gone too long already. 

___

“I never took you for a pet kind of guy,” the Water Tribe boy said as he led Zuko deeper into the Temple. Zuko knew his name started with an “S” but he couldn’t recall it right now. 

Zuko shrugged. The Badgerfrog croaked indignantly, like he could understand and was offended by the statement. 

Zuko really needed to come up with a name for the Badgerfrog. He couldn’t just call it the Badgerfrog for however long he had it. What did badgerfrogs even eat? How was he supposed to take care of this thing?

“I didn’t really want him,” Zuko said quietly. 

“You let yourself get bullied by a frog?” the boy said. Zuko hung his head in embarrassment. It sounded really stupid when he put it like that. 

The Water Tribe boy took Zuko’s hung head as an answer and didn’t touch on it again.

“Does it have a name?” he asked a moment later.

“Not yet,” Zuko said. 

Luckily, they arrived at Zuko’s assigned room (because of course the Avatar’s group wouldn’t let him sleep anywhere near them. Zuko already expected that) before they could make any more conversation. Zuko ducked in, thankful that he could get away from the boy. 

Lunch did sound like a good idea though. But it meant he would have to go out there and face the Avatar’s group again, even if he was technically a part of it now. 

Zuko sighed, setting the frog down on the floor, happy that the slimy weight was out of his arms so he could unpack.

___

The badgerfrog, which Toph had affectionately named Flabby (Aang’s pleas that Zuko should name the frog were ignored; Zuko was just glad he didn’t have to name it), had taken to following Zuko wherever he went. Even if Zuko ran, Flabby always caught up eventually.

It was a little more than annoying, especially when Zuko tripped over him. Or her. Zuko decided to assume and call Flabby a he. And, if all else failed, it was an it. Though Zuko did feel sort of bad calling Flabby an it. Flabby seemed to really like him after all. 

After the newfound discovery that he was worse at firebending than he thought, Zuko had less patience for Flabby. And everyone really. Katara’s constant jabs didn’t help his mood. 

When he and Aang went to the ancient Sun Warrior ruins, he dropped Flabby off with Toph. Flabby seemed to like Toph second best after Zuko, occasionally following her around when Zuko was in a bad mood or trying to firebend. Toph seemed to like the badgerfrog too, making little pedestals in the shade for Flabby to sit on while she practiced earthbending or while everyone sat around the campfire for meals. 

When Zuko and Aang came back, blessed with new knowledge from the (terrifyingly cool) dragons, Flabby had croaked contently from his pedestal before he launched himself at Zuko. Zuko only barely managed to catch the frog.

___

One of Flabby’s favorite spots was in the broken fountain. He liked to hop in and soak in the water, though there wasn’t much of it and there were tons of debris in the basin. 

The fact that Flabby had a favorite place to stay wasn’t bad of itself. The bad part was that Momo also liked that spot whenever Aang was training. And Momo didn’t like Flabby one bit. 

There had been multiple occasions in the past few days where Momo had struggled to pick up Flabby and fly him to the edge of the temple, probably hoping to drop Flabby off the cliff. Unfortunately for Momo, someone always spied his assassination attempts and caught him before he pitched the badgerfrog off the cliff.

Aang said he would keep a closer eye on Momo after his first attempt on Flabby’s life, but that hadn’t come to pass. The monk also claimed that Momo was probably jealous that Flabby was getting attention instead of him. Zuko doubted either animal could actually feel jealous.

Unfortunately, Zuko had formed an attachment to the badgerfrog, so he couldn’t quite say that he didn’t care if Flabby died. That meant that he had to watch Flabby most of the time though, which got slightly annoying. 

It got even more annoying when Flabby got so scared that he wouldn’t hop around on his own anymore. Zuko didn’t realize it until Katara came in one day, holding Flabby and claiming that Zuko was irresponsible and Flabby almost died again. Katara also said she should have just let Flabby die, to hurt Zuko of course. Aang was horrified by that implication and Katara looked sorry, so Zuko didn’t count it against her. Even if Katara was probably only sorry for Aang’s sake.

From then on, Zuko carried Flabby whenever he changed locations. 

“It’s adorable,” Toph claimed at dinner one evening. 

“No it’s not,” Zuko said grumpily, glaring over at Flabby. He smelled like a frog and his arms were slightly slimy even though he had washed them in the fountain more times that he could count. “It’s annoying,” 

If Flabby took offense to the statement, he didn’t show it. He croaked, content on the small pedestal Toph had made for him. A flower crown was on top of his head. 

(Aang had been making them. When Toph found out, she wasn’t happy.

“If you have enough time for flower crowns Twinkle Toes, you should have enough time for extra earthbending practice,” she said, dragging him to the practice spot they had picked out deep inside the temple, cracking her knuckles threateningly.)

Thankfully, Appa didn’t seem to mind Flabby at all. It might have been because Flabby was too small to bother Appa, but Zuko was just happy Appa wasn’t actively trying to fling Flabby off the temple. It would be harder to stop a murder attempt if the murderer was a ten ton bison instead of a ten pound lemur. 

___

Whatever peace Zuko had gotten after retrieving Suki and Sokka and Katara’s dad from the Boiling Rock was quickly forgotten when Azula attacked the air temple. 

Zuko woke up with the sun, as he usually did. He had trained with Aang the day before, so today was his off day and he was determined to enjoy it. No one else was awake, so Zuko picked up Flabby (who liked to sleep on his chest, which was terribly inconvenient) and sat on the edge of the temple. He scratched Flabby absentmindedly, and the badgerfrog seemed to enjoy it, which was odd if Zuko thought about it because Flabby was nothing like Momo, Appa, or the cats that used to roam around the palace to protect against mice before Azula decided that it would be good to practice her firebending on them. The badgerfrog wasn’t covered in fur like some other animals; Flabby had a few patches around his mouth, ears, arms, and back. But then again, who was he to deny Flabby of scratches when he enjoyed them so much?

The morning was peaceful, the sun barely peeking over the edge of the cliff on the opposite side of the endless chasm. Zuko took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, relishing in the rays of the early morning sun. 

Of course, that was the moment a bomb was released from the chasm. Zuko grabbed Flabby and ran back to everyone, dodging bombs as they flew through the air.

Zuko made it inside the fountain room, as he had taken to calling it, right before Aang shut the giant stone doors with airbending. Everyone was awake now, the peace of the morning broken. Everyone was running around, haphazardly packing whatever they could as quickly as they could. 

The stone doors were cracking and breaking as more explosions shook the temple. Zuko shoved Flabby into someone’s arms, though he didn’t see who, as they retreated into the tunnel Toph and Haru made. As soon as Flabby was out of the way, Zuko ran out of the crumbling doors, ignoring Aang’s calls, ready to fight Azula. 

In hindsight, that had been a stupid idea. Zuko had almost died. Twice. But he didn’t die, and that was the good part. Azula lived too though, and while she was Zuko’s sister, he could recognize in a tactical sense that her prolonged existence wasn’t good for anyone.

Flabby did seem happy to see him though, leaping from Suki’s arms toward Zuko. Flabby wasn’t quite as steady on Appa as he was on solid ground, and it took a few hops, but eventually the badgerfrog settled in Zuko’s lap. Flabby stayed there for the rest of the ride, as if he wanted to make sure Zuko’s legs were fully numb. Then again, Flabby had never flown on Appa.

When they arrived at their designated campsite, Zuko was more than happy to set Flabby down on solid ground and try not to stumble on numb legs. Toph made fun of him more than once, but she hadn’t had a ten pound frog that refused to move on her legs for hours. 

Zuko hobbled around the campsite, carrying Flabby because there was still a cliff and Momo was still homicidal towards Flabby.

___

  
  


Katara wanted revenge. Zuko couldn’t say he was surprised. Her mother had died after all. Zuko would want the same if they weren’t defeating the Firelord already. Going traitor to defeat his father had to count as revenge anyway.

Zuko handed Flabby to Sokka to watch. Neither Toph or Aang could be fully trusted. Aang favored Momo too much and Toph couldn’t see Momo if he decided to swoop in on Flabby. 

Besides, after Zuko handed Flabby to Sokka (who balked at the thought of holding a slimy, smelly frog), Flabby seemed more content than he had been in days. He croaked happily and settled deeper into Sokka’s arms. 

“You had better come back quickly,” Sokka said, glancing down at the badgerfrog in his arms. Zuko simply nodded and got on Appa, flying off into the night. 

___

  
  


Flabby seemed to like the Ember Island vacation house. There was plenty of room for him to roam and a fountain in the courtyard that he could splash in. And because there were no more cliffs or chasms near the house, Momo’s murderous tendencies took a sharp drop. 

Flabby was back to following Zuko around wherever he went, with the exception of when Zuko was firebending. If that was the case, Flabby was more than happy to hang out with Toph and receive flower crowns from Aang.

If Zuko was being honest with himself, Flabby being around the old vacation house probably wasn’t the best idea if all he was going off of was the fact that they were near a market for the first time in weeks. Flabby was, well… flabby. It had earned him his name; he was a big frog and tended to eat almost everything thrown his way, despite the fact that it probably wasn't good for him. 

With the fact that there was more food around, there was the fact that Flabby had been eating more. Flabby had grown even flabbier. 

Then again, seeing Flabby hop around and spread froggy slime through the old vacation house brought him such joy that he also thought bringing the badgerfrog here was a good idea. If, after they defeated him, Zuko could show his father Flabby hopping around the vacation home he always insisted was spotless, only so he could see the look on Ozai’s face, he would do it. He wouldn’t even hesitate. 

___

The days passed quickly. The Gaang went to an honestly terrible play about them, but Momo and Flabby seemed to bond while they were gone, if only a little. When they got back, Momo was bringing random nick nacks and snacks from the surrounding area to Flabby, to which the badgerfrog would either eat or croak at. One of these items was Zuko’s father’s baby pictures, which had been unfortunately spared from Zuko’s bonfire only a couple of weeks earlier. 

It seemed like forever ago. 

Thankfully, Zuko was able to stuff the scroll under his shirt and find a hiding spot until he could burn the scroll without everyone else getting suspicious. 

___

The day of the invasion, and hopefully the end of the War, was upon them, and Aang was missing. 

Zuko was ready to pull his own hair out. He should have known this would happen. For Agni’s sake, the monk couldn’t even kill the Firelord when he was a melon. Zuko should have kept a closer eye on him, or someone should have. 

But it didn’t matter now. They were in Ba Sing Se with his Uncle and there was no stopping this invasion. Either Aang would show up, or he wouldn’t. There was nothing else anyone could do. 

If they wanted to win though, Aang needed to show up, and fast. 

Flabby seemed to like his new surroundings and King Bumi, who had immediately warmed up to the frog, rambling madly about something as if the badgerfrog could understand. Maybe Flabby did understand. Zuko didn’t care either way. As long as someone was keeping track of his frog, he was fine with whatever. It’s not like Flabby could go into battle, though that was a fun visual. 

As he took off with Katara though, he couldn’t help but worry. He was going to face Azula, and there was no predicting what would happen there. Sokka, Suki, and Toph were going to stop the war balloons that were supposed to set fire to the Earth Kingdom, and if they got caught? Well, Zuko didn’t want to think about that. At least he knew what to expect with Azula (or what not to worry about in the very least), but other than that, they were going into unknown territory. 

Not for the first time, Zuko hoped that everyone would make it back safely and they would end this stupid war. Then again, Zuko had to do a lot more than hope in order for this to work. 

Zuko sighed as Appa took off. The vast White Lotus camp soon became specks on the ground. This had to end okay. It had to. 

___

The war was over. 

The war was over and Zuko was the Firelord and he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. 

It had been a month since the coronation. 

Aang, Katara, Suki, and Toph had stuck around for two weeks after, before going their separate ways. Aang and Katara wanted to go back to the South Pole for a little before traveling the world, doing Avatar things. Toph wanted to go back to the Earth Kingdom to open up a metalbending school (and of course Zuko gave her the funds for that). Suki said she needed to get back to Kyoshi: she had been separated from her girls for too long and a reunion was in order. They did promise to visit often, but didn’t specify how often.

Sokka was still here. He and his father had stuck around with the excuse of wanting to hash out treaties and possibly get a start on reviving old trade routes too. Set an example for the rest of the world and all that. Whatever the reason, Zuko was glad that he had stuck around. He would be leaving in a few weeks though, but Zuko tried not to think about that. 

Zuko had managed to convince Sokka to be the Ambassador for the Southern Water Tribe though, which was good. He would be back every six months. The schedule made Zuko feel a little better. At least Sokka’s visits would be assured, rather than a simple “often” by the rest of his friends. Not that he was ungrateful. Aang and Katara had already sent letters.

Uncle was still here too, bringing Flabby with him after taking back Ba Sing Se. Zuko was eternally grateful for Iroh being there. Half the time, Zuko didn’t know what he was doing. He had no clue how to do treaties or go to meetings with important people. He was only Crown Prince for four years before he was banished. Uncle had been around this his whole life.

His help was invaluable, and slowly Zuko gained confidence in his abilities. But soon Uncle would be leaving too, bound for his tea shop in Ba Sing Se where he could have a very well deserved retirement. 

They were still here though. Zuko was thankful for that at the very least. 

Even with them here, the palace walls had started to feel lonely and empty when he was walking alone. They felt too large for him, and it unnerved him to no end. 

He didn’t sleep in the room that was officially for the Firelord. He avoided the War Room and the Agni Kai chambers at all costs, and he was only a little disappointed that he didn’t take up Toph’s offer to level them for something else. Unfortunately, he needed both rooms: one for show, the other for tradition. It would not do if Zuko oversaw the destruction of a chamber named for Agni himself. That was one spirit he did not feel like angering. Not that he felt like angering _any_ spirits. 

Zuko looked over the mountain of paperwork that awaited him. It had only been a month and he was the most stressed he had ever been. Not much of a surprise really; he was the Firelord after all, and ruling over hundreds of thousands of people was bound to be stressful. But his father had never looked as tired as Zuko felt. 

_Then again,_ Zuko amended as he grabbed one of the documents, _He probably didn’t care in the right ways either._

A croak rumbled through the silent study. Zuko looked up. 

Flabby was sitting on Zuko’s desk, perched on a small stack of paper that was no doubt ruined now. Zuko groaned slightly before reaching over to the other side of the desk to grab the badgerfrog. Flabby gave a happy croak as Zuko picked him up.

The papers that Flabby had been sitting on were covered in a healthy coating of badgerfrog slime and the ink from the top one was smudged. He glared at the frog. 

“You ruined my papers,” Zuko said. Flabby said nothing back. 

“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?” Flabby gave a long croak. 

“I hope it wasn’t too important. Otherwise it’ll be my fault. No one can blame a frog,” Flabby croaked in agreement and jumped out of Zuko’s arms. He landed with a loud slap on the floor before hopping out the door. Except he stopped outside the door and started to ribbit obnoxiously. 

Zuko stared at Flabby, who continued to ribbit. 

“You want me to follow you?” Zuko swore he could hear the guard outside his door give a small snort. Flabby only continued to croak. 

“Am I getting bullied by a badgerfrog?’ Zuko asked no one in particular. This was oddly reminiscent of when he first “adopted” Flabby.

Zuko looked out his window. It was nearing sunset and he had been working all day. It couldn't hurt to take a break and Flabby was being awful. He could use that as an excuse if someone asked why he was following a frog. 

Zuko sighed and stepped out from behind the desk, following Flabby out the door. He croaked happily as he hopped ahead of Zuko in the halls, apparently following the all too familiar path to the turtleduck pond. 

Flabby liked the turtleduck pond. It was sunny most of the time and he could splash around in the small pond. The turtleducks, though wary of him at first, had gotten used to him and didn’t mind him. They actually had started to come to him more than they came to Zuko. Zuko didn’t understand that very much; Flabby wasn’t very soft or warm, but they seemed to like him anyway. 

Zuko sat down, back to the tree by the pond as Flabby jumped in with a large splash. The turtleducks converged. 

As Flabby splashed around, Zuko dug into his pockets to find the lone piece of bread he kept in case he came here on short notice. He pulled it out and broke it into chunks, throwing it in the pond. A few turtleducks swam up to get it, quacking quietly as they ate. 

After a little while, Flabby grew tired of playing with the turtleducks. He hopped out of the pond and into Zuko’s lap, dripping water. Zuko, who had been dozing, his long day catching up to him, jumped and looked down. 

“Did you have to?” Zuko whispered. He was only a month into this. He didn’t need people thinking he was crazy. 

Flabby gave a small croak, squirming slightly in Zuko’s lap, which only made it more wet. 

“I’m all wet now,” Flabby didn’t seem to care. Zuko sighed and surrendered himself to his fate. It didn’t seem like Flabby wanted to get up soon at all. 

He scratched the badgerforg absentmindedly. 

“You’re shaping up to be my favorite advisor if you stick around,” Zuko said after a little while. Flabby gave a knowing croak. 

“You already knew that, didn’t you,” 

Another croak. 

“Can’t believe I’m the Firelord and getting bullied by a badgerfrog,” 

Two croaks.

“Sokka’s going to be annoyed you’re my favorite advisor. Ambassador. Whatever” Zuko whispered to him. Flabby responded by burrowing deeper into Zuko’s lap. 

Zuko sighed, content as the last rays of Agni slipped beneath the horizon. 

If Sokka was annoyed that Flabby was his favorite or if the fact that Uncle was leaving soon bothered Zuko, it was lost on him. He wasn’t Fire Lord Zuko right now. He was just Zuko. Zuko who was dozing with his pet badgerfrog near the turtleduck pond, not a worry in the world. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write, even if it took *forever*.  
> If you want, I would be interested in writing some more Flabby shenanigans. Maybe some individual interactions with the Gaang.  
> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> NOW PART OF A SERIES


End file.
